Dating dc blog

Valentine’s Day is here, and if you’ve not gotten yourself a date yet, time is running out. Dating apps kind of suck — just ask anyone who’s dating dc blog used one — but there’s no better way to look out for a date this February 14. The stigma toward dating apps is fading, and these apps are quickly becoming the normal way to meet and connect with other single people.

And if that wasn’t enough, we’ll also offer our expert opinions on their accessibility, foibles, pratfalls, best intended uses, and everything else in between. The Tinder app no longer requires you to have a Facebook account, but you do have to be older than 18. Discovery settings allow other users to find you if desired and set a few preferences regarding who you see. Tinder shows you a photo, name, and age. If you and another person have both swiped right on one another, a screen will appear showing that you’ve matched and inviting you to send them a message. The free option comes with limited swipes, and you’ll have to pay per month for unlimited swipes. The photos are large, the app is — comparatively speaking — svelte, and setting up your profile is pretty painless.

Tinder gets an A for its usability. Also, no one can message you unless you have also expressed an interest in them, which means you get no unsolicited messages. While there are a fair few people on Tinder who use it strictly to collect swipes, many people are actually inclined to meet up in real life, which is not always the case with dating apps. All options, including those for accessing the settings and viewing profiles, are located in a slide-out menu. The interface is extremely clunky and the photos are a little small. You also have to tap on a user’s small image to see a larger version and the person’s profile, which is simply too large for an app.

It works on a website, but it’s overkill on an app, and the amount of scrolling required makes it annoying to access. Worst of all — anyone can message you. And they can message anything to you. If you don’t reply, they’ll probably just keep on messaging you too. The service also offers more specific preference options, meaning you can narrow your choices to certain religious beliefs or ethnicities if those things are important to you. You can load up to nine photos and have a much more prolific profile, too.

And if you’ve entered any icebreakers into your profile, the app will send one of them to a bagel you’ve connected with as the first message for greater convenience. Although Coffee Meets Bagel allows for a range of super-specific preferences, the bagel it sends you may or may not match your specified preferences and, more often than not, if they do, they will be a significant distance away. The app can also be glitchy, often resulting in slow update and load times, and sometimes it’s frustrating that it sends you only a single bagel a day. The slow pace and infrequency of actually connecting with someone make it all too easy to be super-passive in the app, which can render it useless. OK, it’s a lot like Tinder — but with a few key differences that make it better. If you want to know more about someone, you can always just ask the friend you have in common, which is a human touch that’s absent from most apps. You can see what sort of relationship people are looking for, and while that doesn’t sound that revolutionary, it reflects the fact that Hinge carries more of a dating expectation than a just-hooking-up expectation à la Tinder.

You can only add photos of yourself from Facebook or Instagram, though, which is kind of limiting if you’re not very active on either. Also, while the friends-of-friends concept has a lot of benefits, it’s also restricting. It’s possible to run out of matches after 10 minutes of browsing, which is a letdown if you’re actually enjoying the app or are serious about finding a date. If you want to join Raya, be prepared to do a little legwork. After downloading the app, you need to complete an application and have a referral from a current member. Your application is then assessed by certain algorithmic values before being evaluated by an anonymous committee. The app itself is well designed and pretty straightforward.

Once your profile is active you can review closely curated dating prospects or access the Social Mode that shows you different hotspots where other members are hanging out. Since the initial application process is so rigorous and Raya has a strict code of conduct, you will find members tend to be more respectful of others. So is Raya worth all the trouble? That’s a call you’ll need to make on your own, but if the reviews on the App Store are to be believed, the answer is an overwhelming yes.

Overall, Raya seems like a good app for people who are serious about finding like-minded partners or friends. Unfortunately, there’s no Android version yet. The service will also provide you with personalized matches on a daily basis, which take your interests into consideration. The Match interface is also pretty sleek and minimalist, but it’s not as easy to use as, say, Tinder. It utilizes a set of tabs that run along the top of the display — i.

It’s not an overly complicated app, but it does take a few minutes to get used to. Profiles are concise and settings are also pared down, like with Tinder, but swiping up allows you to scroll through additional photos instead of super-liking someone. This means that just because someone twitched their thumb up on your photo, you won’t have to see their profile first every time you open the app, even though you swipe left on their profile every time. Bumble also checks the boxes for usability, a slick user interface, and easy setup. In addition, the relatively ballsy move of designing a dating app specifically with women in mind pays off. It’s the only app that clearly states plainly and prominently that it prohibits pornographic material, requires its users to respect one another, and has a code of conduct in place specifically to make it a safe and friendly place. However, if you’re a woman and you really hate being the first person to initiate a conversation, then Bumble definitely isn’t for you.